Method of mounting underneath equipment to railroad cars



' May 9, 1939- K. F. NYSTROM METHOD OF MOUNTING UNDERNEATH EQUIPMENT TORAILROAD CARS Filed April 10, 1937 212 fjfufenor 55 @ng- 25 detaileddescription of the accompanying drawr T q pm t i s ma a ly t ned 25 obalance and at the same time so as to materially p i wh r by access othe equipment within 50.

Patented May 9, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF MOUNTINGUNDERNEATH EQUIPMENT T RAILROAD onus Karl F. Nystrom, Milwaukee, Wis.Application April 10, 1937, Serial No. 136,081

1 Claim. (01. 105-2) My invention relates more especially to the siteends, with means or a member l2 of width method of applying whatis-known as the underslightly greater than the combined spacing andneath equipment on railroad passenger cars and width of the'center sillmembers and of length particularly to passenger cars of the present dayless than the distance between the body bolsters 5 construction; and hasfor its object the provision and yet sufiicient to accommodate the usualun- 6 of a car wherein the center of gravity is matederneath equipmentof railroad passenger cars; rially lower than in car constructions as atpresthe member l2 being firmly secured in any suitent in use and hence acar wherein the-element able manner to the bottom of the center sill orsafety is greatly increased. members ll. lo The invention also has forits object the pro- In practice, the floor of the car is first con- 10vision of a railroad passenger car wherein the structed on top of thecenter sill members and necessary underneath equipment is so arrangedbody bolsters and this assembled construction is and applied that theweight is properly balanced then inverted. so the center sills arepresented and while at the same time means is employed upwardly; thefloor unit or structure being supwhereby the air resistance is verymaterially ported on the fioorof a shop in any sutable 15 reduced, emanner. The holding member 12 is then secured Afurther object andadvantage of my improveto the center sill members between the body mentis the provision of a better riding and bolsters; with the plate equallydisposed to oppoeasier pulling car wherein the distribution of sitesides of the center sill members as disclosed weight is more properlyaccomplished and as a. in F u e result the .problem of proper springequipment After the member l2 has been attached to the in. turn isgreatly simplified. center sill members, the passenger car under- Theobjects and advantages of my invention n th quipm n i hen pp m mber I2will all be more readily comprehended from the w i h s i y r d to h n rill meming wherein: in dotted hues in Figure 2; this equipment gen-Figure 1 is a cross-sectional diagrammatic illuserally consisting of eSteam heat vapor j utration or outline of a passenger car body withlator indicated at l3-an air-cooling unit indicenter sills illustratingmy improved means d cated at l4--water'reservoirs indicated at l5-airmethod of applying the underneath equipment; brake valves as at Iii-airbrake rv s t Figure 2 is an inverted plan of the structure as battery Oat |8-and a Second Steam illustrated in Figure 1. heat regulator at 13,

Figure 3 is aside elevation of a portion of the A'iter the variouselements, as outlined above, bottom and center sills of the car with myim h b up n m m er 2 nd riveted or proved method and enclosure m ns,otherwise rigidly secured in place, the entire 36 My invention relat sto th th d of applygrouping is then preferably enclosed by a suitableing the underneath equipment on railroad pashousing l9 Consisting of abottom, two e Walls senger cars of present .day construction involvandtwo end wallsrthti lower end Portions Whereing the ideas ofstream-lining so as t overcome of are given arcuate formation asindicated at 40 air resistance in order that greater speed may 20 inFigur While the pp Portions are be obtained. 4 preferably somewhatextended as at 2|, 2| with As the invention relates entirely to themethod sloping walls 22 at the ends. The extended ends and means ofapplying the equipment underneath 2| are Secured to the Center 51115 Theends the car, a diagrammatic cross-section outline of Of the housing arep a y Shown with slight the car body, as shown at ID in Figure 1, willupward pe as it 23 inFigure 3 where the areusuffice for the purpose ofillustrating my imate end walls begin, thus affording less resistanceproved idea which consists in applying and securo air I ing the usualunderneath equipment of passenger The-Side Walls Of the ho at p p po ntscars in a manner designed to effect a greater are, of course, providedwith suitable closable lower the center of gravity and th'erebyenhancethe hOuSiIlg y be had when Occasion requires. the safety of the car.After the floor unit has been equipped with The method as shown in thedrawing consists h equipment described and the housing l in providingthe bottom of the center sills II, II plied about the equipment, thefloor unit is then intermediate of the body bolsters adjacentopporeversed and the equipment and center sills will 66 tributed more orless over the entire bottom oi the car, with the battery box (outlinedat I8 in Figure 2) usually located near an end wall of the car, the airconditioning or cooling unit (generally outlined at H in Figure 2) beinglocated on the opposite side of the center sills, namely in proximity tothe other side sill; while the air reservoirs, air brake valves, andwater reservoirs were scattered over the bottom of the car asconvenience or room permitted.

It is apparent that such disposition of the equipment made it quitediilicult to build. a stream-line car adapted to offer the minimum ofresistance to air. Such scattered mounting of the underneath equipmentalsogreatly disturbed or disrupted the proper balance of the car. Sucharrangement of the equipment in certain types of stream-line cars alsoresulted in loss of space intermediate of the floor and the under curvedside walls of the car.

With my improved means and method the equipment is now entirelysupported by and suspended beneath the center sills of the car thusappreciably lowering the center of gravity of the car. Furthermore, theequipment is so applied to the center sills as to perfectly balance theweight transversely; the equipment with its enclosure or housing beingall disposed adjacent the longitudinal center line of the car andintermediate of. the body bolsters as well as being disposed in avertical plane considerably removed irom the vertical plane of the sidesills or side walls of the car. By concentrating the equipment in themanner disclosed and covering the equipment with a suitable housingprovided with arcuate end walls and upwardly sloping bottom asdescribed, a very material reduction in air resistance is not onlyobtained, but at the same time the equipment is protected from injurydue to flying rocks, etc. The method of arrangement also provides for anenclosure or housing of minimum cross sectional area.

A car with my improved method of underthen depend therebeneath withinthe enclosure neath equipment mounting and the enclosure means orhousing, wherein the weight is confined to the longitudinal center lineof the car, results in a car of greater safety due to the fact that theentire car body structure is counterbalanced and the center of gravitylowered to quite a degree. With the equipment arranged and housed asdescribed, the underneath structure practically functions like thekeelof a boat--,

an action very noticeable in high speed trains with the result that abetter riding car is obtained because of the better distribution ofweight; this distribution also simplifying the usual problems of springapplication.

My method of arrangement provides a car which is more easily operatedordrawn because of. the minimum cross-sectional area of the bot tom ofthe car and the resultant reduction in air resisting surfaces.

As my invention does not relate to the car body construction above thefloor unit, detail illustration and explanation of general carconstruction above the center sills and floor is not deemed necessaryfor a proper understanding Oi my invention.

The exemplification is believed to be the bee. embodiment of theinvention although certain modifications of details may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

In combination with the center sill members of a standard railroad car,a rigid single piece equipment holding element adapted to be socurcdcentrally to the bottoms of the center sill members of the carunderframe and of width 1' less than the width of the car floor, saidelement being adapted to have all of the car underneath equipmentuniformly secured thereto and disposed at opposite sides of and adjacentto the longitudinal center line of the car body so as to locate theweight of said underneath equipment adjacent said longitudinal centerline and symmetrically disposed with respect to the iongitudinal centerline 01 the car body and in counterbalancing relation with the weight ofthe car body, and a closed housing coextensive with said element andenclosing all of the car underneath equipment, said housing beingprovided with reduced air deflecting ends.

- KARL F. NYSTROM.

